An Ambassador?

For some reason this particular passage of scripture has been whirling around in my head, over and over, for a few months actually and I keep going back to it.  So I am guessing that I should share this scripture and some of my thoughts, and again, they are just ‘my’ thoughts.  But some of what is in this passage literally makes my heart beat faster and makes this fire burn inside of me cause I desire restoration in everybody’s life.   So I share…..

His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Life would be simply outrageous if we all actually lived by this guideline, but man is this hard sometimes….I can honestly say that it doesn’t, not in my life.  My selfish nature wants to get the last word, the last slam against someone that has hurt me, and also brings every excuse as to why I can’t do this or that for someone, and justifies why I shouldn’t. I am just being real.

^14-15Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Jesus died for everyone! BAM.  That’s it.  You can’t debate it, argue it, or challenge it.  He died for everyone.  This is hard to remember sometimes, because we love the ‘ya, but’ excuse.  A while ago I had written in my journal about this….here is an excerpt… “No matter our sin….the same price was paid.  The same suffering occurred.  How can we even begin to rate sin when ultimately Jesus died for ALL sin. That is saying that Jesus was a fool to suffer for someone who isn’t that sinful by man’s standards.” If we could look at everyone as Jesus looks at everyone, think of the restorative power behind that.  It simply makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs……. We are all in the same boat, we are all human, we are all in need of a Saviour, we all screw up, so please get over what you need to get over so we can all get along and enjoy this ‘Boating expedition’ together.  Hebrews 12:14,15; Romans 12:18 are great examples of living at peace with one another, getting along, getting over our differences, our hurts, and ultimately all of us living under and in God’s amazing Grace!

^16-20Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! (to grow or develop quickly; flourish) Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. So this last paragraph is jam-packed full of stuff.  Stuff that I am dealing with and want to conquer.  I think that a lot of us are evaluating people on a day to day basis, I know I do…I talked about it in one of my prior blogs.  Here is where the problem lies…..we judge and evaluate people based on our own human standards, and by our own natural instincts and our own human point of view.  I am not saying that we are evil, but we are sinners and don’t necessarily see things the way that God sees them.  Well duh, we are human!  But this is where we have to ask the Father to help us see others from His perspective.  He sees us all with our garbage, with our scars, with our failures, with our attitudes, which we see in others too…..however, God sees past that.  He sees our potential, our future, our destiny, and cheers us on, not holding all the other ‘stuff’ against us.  This is where we are different….we do hold it against others, we don’t see beyond the crap in their lives, the hurts that they have caused us, the pain they have caused.  Lord, let me see others the way you do.

EVERYONE united with Christ gets a fresh start!  I am going to talk about a possible misconception here, one that I am guilty of.   We equate, coming into relationship with Christ as ‘coming into the light’…….and if someone sins after that conversion…..we say “well they should have known better.”  Trust me; I have heard this one especially about Chris and his sins. He should have known better….this may be true…..David Weidner, a man who has overcome his sexual addictions said this….”Over time, I’ve realized that coming into the light isn’t reserved for our conversion. On the contrary, this transparent lifestyle is the only way we overcome addiction or any perpetual sin. Light isn’t just the destination, it’s also the path out of darkness.” Wow, love that!

I also want to touch on the line where it says Christ called us all to settle our relationships with each other.   Hmm, this one, makes my heart beat faster…..It’s hard, it’s difficult, and it hurts.  I am not in relationship with some people I should be or could be, and I know God wants it……I am just being real; I don’t know how to get there.

I mentioned before the scriptures, Hebrews 12:14 &15…… “ ¹⁴ Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. ¹⁵ Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”   AND   Romans 12:18 “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” I don’t want to be responsible for someone else not receiving and experiencing  God’s grace, I don’t want bitterness to grow and trouble me, and possibly corrupt others.  If I harbour bitterness towards someone else, especially a fellow believer, what would make someone who doesn’t believe want this ‘christian’ life.   I have to ask myself, have I done all I can, as much as depends on me, to live at peace with everyone.  No probably not.  I am sure there are things I could do.  Are there things that you could do to have relationship or a better relationship with people that you once had relationship with?    Wow, why am I writing this?   It hurts like you wouldn’t believe…..But I know God has put this in my heart for months.  And I don’t want to ignore it, I want God to continually make me more like Him and if that means that I have to have this mirror in my face and see what needs to be worked on , then so be it!

We are all representing Christ if we have chosen to live for Him and want Him to lead and guide us.  Am I a good representation of Him?  Would people know I am a Christ-Follower?  Do I represent all that He is?  Am I an ambassador of grace, love, acceptance, reconciliation, comfort, hope, truth, second chances, forgiveness……..for others who need this in their lives?

Mari

March 24, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 2 Corinthians 5:14-20, Ambassador, Christ-Follower, David Weidner, grace, Hebrews 12:14 -15, hope, reconciliation, representing Christ, Restoration, Romans 12:18, second chances, truth | Leave a comment